Resident Evil Pandemic
by Force1295
Summary: Everything has come down to this. All the battles that the survivors have fought have come down to this moment when Umbrella makes the worst mistake ever. Can the day be saved when the menace spreads past the US?
1. Manifesto

The events that happened during the Raccoon City Incident are still very controversial some months after the President initiated the nuclear deployment. People have shunned us survivors as cowards, who left their fellow man behind to be turned into the nightmare that plagued those streets. If there was more we could have done, I'm sure that it would have been done. Whatever sins or transgressions man has done to merit these things to happen, I would hope that we can make up for them and change our ways for the better. No matter our future, Umbrella has to be stopped! Their testing has gone on too long and their hidden agenda must be made known to the public. For that I am sure!  
  
Whatever did happen in Raccoon City, the tortured screams and moans of the citizens haunt me in my dreams to this date. The horror we survived from was just a glance unto the hell fire that was to come. Our final escape from that doomed city was just the first fight for survival for the war had just started. The world has so much to understand about the things that happened there. Loved ones and friends dying and coming back to life. The undead were walking the streets unchecked as other engineered weapons stalked those few who survived. And no matter what we did, we could not save those that were closest to us in that hell. Whatever was done, the heartache of the families that were lost, when their own turned into that zombified menace, will never equate to the damage that would be if those things had got out. It's an easy thing to say but we all lost something dear to us by leaving that city. For this, us survivors will always have a portion of us taken away as payment for our survival, our hopes.  
  
I sit here today typing this manifesto in hopes that the Umbrella Corporation will stop its testing of its viral weapons. Us survivors of the Raccoon City disaster and several more after that are tied together under an undying bond. We know the truth and we hope to instill it into the hearts of the people all across this world. To that end, we will never lose our war for our soldiers are just out that back door. Beware Umbrella we know the truth and no matter what sort of hell you unleash upon us next we will be ready! We will beat it and then come for you corporate scum next!  
  
--Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, Clare Redfield and Barry Burton. 


	2. The Nightmare Is Far From Over

The Nightmare is Far From Over

The howling moans echoed through the city streets as thousands of the undead walked freely and unchecked... Amidst the chaos, gunfire sounded out over the tortured screams as a single person dressed in tattered clothes tried to battle the mindless creations... One person stood surrounded by the likes of an army of the undead, that would easily overtake her, and alone she fought the biohazard. The woman wore jeans that were ripped above the hips and had slashes on the thighs of them with no hints of blood anywhere... Her tight crop top had stains from other people's blood and was ripped down the side... The young face of the woman was stern and cold while also burdened by emotions having to take down these poor souls... Her heart ached for having to dispense such rough justice but it was kill or be killed...

As the gun chamber smoked, she could feel her pulse quicken as the gun clicked empty among the blurring menace. Kicking the zombies away from her as she reloaded, her attention then turned to a mammoth experiment that was walking her way... Its many eyes focused as its massive muscles flexed as it rushed forward...

In the horror, the weapon, bearing the Umbrella symbol, smashed through the zombies and rushed at the woman, who was firing madly at it... Shutting her eyes tightly, she could see her life flash before her eyes as the monster punched her with his massive fist... Not even opening her eyes, she could feel her pulse slow and her blood flow freely... Getting up after being knocked down, the zombies smelt her blood and lunged onto the dying body, eating her flesh..... Time passed and her eyes reopened, darkened and shallow.... resurrected as one of the beasts stalking the fair city. As the craving for human flesh overcame her, Jill awoke from her nightmare in a cold sweat forever changed by this reoccurring dream...

Sighing and brushing her hair aside, she sat in her bed with her hands shaking in front of her face... It was some months after the Raccoon City disaster and the public had turned the S.T.A.R.S. into one of the bad guys of the disaster. Everyone took the side of the Umbrella Corporation and blamed the S.T.A.R.S. for their mishandling of the situation as the cause of everything. The weight of the world rested upon their shoulders but they took it all in stride. They held themselves together with their ties of friendship that sprung up from their first hand experience with the horrors of Umbrella. Despite their friendships and no matter their political mishandlings, the remaining survivors of S.T.A.R.S. had to be resilient against any of Umbrella's ploys to turn the public for it will continue to threaten the world with its biological nightmares... The world was still as of yet unwilling to believe that the beloved corporation that had done so much for them could be their greatest adversary... For soon, it would be too late for them all... The calm before the storm had long begun after the nuclear deployment and nothing could stop what was to come...

Managing herself up on her feet, Jill fumbled into the bathroom of her small apartment. Turning on the cold water faucet, she splashed herself trying to shake the sense that everything, everything she had fought for and everything she had done, was all for nothing. She stood staring into the mirror looking at how much she had changed these past few months... The burden of everything had aged her at least three years more than what she was now (making her twenty-three year old self look twenty-five)... Jill shook her head and plopped herself in front of her computer and finished typing her manifesto, to be sent to Umbrella directly and several news outlets. She knew that the surviving S.T.A.R.S. members had a price on their heads but she had to make herself known. Printing it up on paper, she addressed it to the last known residence of Barry Burton. For after he signed, the paper would then be sent across the US in search of the remaining members' signatures. As she left her apartment, she left it in the mailbox outside... Jill had found herself in hiding away from everything and everyone... Umbrella had indeed wormed their way into her life but she managed to scrape by on the money she received from friends... Walking through the sunlit streets, she could not shake the sense that she was being watched... for a corporation the size of Umbrella could not be lost for long... It was picking up her scent and was soon to take its plans to the next level...


	3. STARS To The End

S.T.A.R.S. To The End

Typing up his field report, Wesker shook off the sense that he was being watched. Since the Antarctic base exploded, he had bought his time well and the corporation that rebuilt him had no clue as to what his plans were. No one short of the survivors of the Antarctic base knew he even survived the Raccoon City incident. He really liked this fact for being a dead man allowed him to maneuver rather easily through situations requiring his expertise.

Looking up onto his finished work, Wesker's reptilian eyes refocused under his sunglasses as he smiled at his rather ingenious work. Laughing maniacally, he knew it would be perfect to cover his escape from servitude. Rereading it after it had printed, Wesker signed the spots he needed and transferred the report via fax to his bosses. Although before the report could fully be sent, Wesker took his fist and shattered the machine into bits as a toothy grin stretched across his face.

"Pathetic," Wesker laughed, "This'll make them think I had been caught and taken care of. This is too ingenious... Now that the corporation thinks I'm dead, I'm finally free to take care of those Umbrella bastards."

Getting up from his seat, he finished gathering his weapons and tossed his tote over his shoulder. This was his final moment as a slave for soon he would exact his revenge on those who betrayed him... However, there was something else that would happen before he could evacuate that would forever alter his plans...

Thirty minutes earlier in a large complex, a group of people rushed through a darkened corridor of concrete. Speaking through their headsets, they rushed through the building for their task was soon to be complete. In each of their hands, there was a bag containing a string of very sensitive devices... Footsteps and equipment rattled through the corridor and echoed off of the hollowed walls as they ran toward completing their objective... Whereas most people would just push it aside, the noise produced here was sufficient enough to keep the crew on their toes... Stepping up their paces, they placed the last few bags at their specific points across the structure... Each of the crew bared biohazardous armor with the UBCS (Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasures Service) logo highlighted against their uniforms... Knowing to keep their radios silent, they continued to push themselves as they raced through the complex... Meeting up on the roof, the squad leader rushed to meet up with his squad and broke the long radio silence as he contacted the covert ops unit placed outside of the building.

"The last device is in place," the squad leader bellowed through the line, "We're moving out. The mission has been accomplished. No one has been privy of our existence here. Repeat. The mission has been accomplished. All devices have been placed and I'm awaiting confirmation of remote activation."

"Received Red Leader," the covert ops unit replied, "All devices read hot and you must fall back to the safety point. We will contact you later about further clean up of the mess afterwards. This is ops out..."

With a loud hiss over the lines, the short burst radio transmission went silent and the squad dropped their gear as they sighed having done their one task Watching carefully around for onlookers, they quickly turned on their GPS units and awaited pickup from the now roaring helicopter overhead. The crew of the helicopter dropped a series of lines out as the team grasped them and climbed aboard... Everything had gone according to plan. The covert ops unit getting the all clear signal started final checks as the devices were activated... starting the countdown... After sending the okay, they left the area and went off to meet the rest of the team. The countdown had begun and nothing could stop what would happen next...

Some time later, Wesker opened the door of his secret hideout and went to leave... The sense that something was not right overcame him again... Yet this time, there was no stopping it or trying to fix the problem... With a loud resounding series of explosions, the whole building, where Wesker resided, came crashing down around him. As everything came thundering to life, Wesker shut his eyes and saw his life flash before his eyes... He knew that there was little chance of getting out of this one alive... but there was always a slim chance and fate seemed to be on his side... Mumbling a curse to Chris Redfield and Umbrella, he sighed as he was trapped under a pile of rubble...

Many miles away from this scene, a brother and sister sat talking and joking about what little they had to smile about now. A young woman with red hair dressed in pajamas sat sprawled out on her bed flicking through the television. She was still young by the look in her face but her eyes seemed so much older than her having seen so many atrocities... Beside her sat her brother, he was much more mature than her in looks and mannerism. His boyish good looks had long since receded because of his time dealing with Umbrella... He was busy laboring over a newspaper looking for any hint of what Umbrella was doing next... Dropping his paper and feeling a sudden chill down his back, Chris sat upright in his chair and shuddered catching the attention of his sister. Looking over from her perch, Clare rested her hand on his shoulder and looked for some sense of him knowing she was there. Getting up and out of the bed, Clare sat next to Chris looking into his hollowed eyes trying to get his attention.

"What's it now?" Clare finally spoke with a nudge in the side, "Last time, you jumped like that there was a spider in the bathroom. It wasn't even that big!"

"I know," Chris shook himself out of the daze and laughed, "I don't know what the deal is... I just got this weird feeling that something happened that's going to haunt us all... HEY! Wait one moment there, missy! Do you realize how hard it is to kill one ten times that size!? If you want to be like that, fine... Look at you little miss macho, you can't even go anywhere unless it's well lit and you're armed to the teeth!"

"Well you say it best," Clare giggled, "The Raccoon City Incident changed us all... I've seen what lurks in the darkness and I don't want to ever remember that place... That's why I can't stand the dark... All those horrors lurked there..."

"None of us survivors want to remember," Chris shook his head, "It's not like you've ever trusted me with this knowledge before! You still won't trust me enough to tell me what really went on in Antarctica... When will you lower your defenses and tell me?"

"In time," Clare sullied, "I'm still coming to grips with it myself... I just need to find... uhhh... the answers to the questions I still have myself..."

"I'll be here when you want to talk," Chris touched Clare on the shoulder with a forced smile, "Anyway... We need to get a move on. I got word from my partner, Jill Valentine. Umbrella is making a major move and we don't know what they're going to do next... We have to stay one step ahead of them before more innocent people get hurt..."

"Right," Clare nodded, "Where are we going now Chris?"

"Jill sent a letter to Barry and Barry is going to send it to our last known address," Chris yawned, "We're going to have to backtrack a little and make sure to cover our tracks... It'll be risky but well worth the effort... From what Jill has told me, it's going to bring us S.T.A.R.S back together. I just hope Wesker doesn't crash the reunion."

"He's busy with Nanotek," Clare replied quickly, "That corporation is in need of him to correct a few more of their own problems..."

"How'd you know about Wesker's corporate affiliation?" Chris hesitated, "and what else do you know that you're not telling me? Come on spill it Clare!"

"A friend hacked into the systems and found the files," Clare sighed, "It was in the Umbrella mainframe... which means that they know also... which, of course, can't be a good thing... I know you want to know everything I know but it's going to take me a lot of time to cope with it all first. This knowledge of Umbrella's evils haunt me in my dreams..."

"Fine... Remember what I said about being here for ya... Whenever you feel comfortable, here I am," Chris frowned, "I'm sorry sister... The last thing I ever wanted was to drag you into this with me... but we do have to go... We've got a long stretch to cover... and a very short time frame..."

Hastily packing their belongings, Clare and Chris Redfield looked around the hotel room for anything that they missed... Sighing deeply, Chris wiped the room clean of fingerprints while Clare finished packing the various hidden weapons... Chris grabbed his pack and nodded to Clare as she shoved her last gun into her bag... Turning the handle with a napkin, Clare and Chris Redfield left their room behind and moved through the hotel toward their rental car. Laughing and joking on the way down, they found themselves at the front door of the hotel. At the sight of the rental car, Chris jammed his hand into his pocket searching for the key. Grabbing the key and pushing his finger against a button for the alarm, Chris turned back to Clare talking with her as they walked closer to it... With a loud squeal, the car's lights flashed and the alarm deactivated as they were now drawing near it... Putting the key into the door as Clare watched over his back, Chris unlocked the door as the whole thing was engulfed in a fireball that flung Chris and Clare some fifty feet... With the breath knocked out of them, Clare and Chris looked up onto the now burning car as the echo of every cars' alarm in the parking lot screamed as the sirens of police in the area drew near...

Dusting themselves off, Chris and Clare managed to get up with a few bumps and bruises and slip off in the maelstrom that followed the explosion as the police came onto the scene... Following the car explosion, the two found themselves trying to blend in with the crowd of gasping newcomers... Chris and Clare tightened their hold on their stuff as the police started pushing back the onlookers... Disappearing from the scene was simple as they found themselves turning a corner away from the disaster... The clouds that had been blocking out the sun moments before now allowed sunlight to pour across the streets as it flashed against a metal object some ten feet ahead of them... Looking up, Chris caught the unmistakable insignia for the UBCS running around a corner. Quickly reacting by hiding his sister in a nearby cafe, Chris took after the man dressed in biohazard armor... The man speedily ducked in an alleyway as Chris caught up with him... Cornered and without a way out, the UBCS operative held up his hands trying to plead his way out...

"Oh... no... you don't! You're not going to get out of this THAT easily... I don't mind if you try to kill me, but when you endanger my sister and others," Chris yelled as rushed forward and landed a right hook to the ribs, "you will have to answer to me!"

"But..." the guy stammered.

"But nothing!" Chris shouted as he connected an uppercut, "You're going to pay for what you did!"

"No more!" the guy forced out as he fell to the ground coughing, "It wasn't me! Some guy paid me fifty bucks to wear this! I don't even know what this insignia means..."

The clouds above them shifted a little as it highlighted the grim scene in the alleyway... Chris stood over the UBCS operative with his fists outstretched ready for the next move. The UBCS operative leaned over and coughed up something on the ground as he tried to manage himself onto his feet. Getting ready to knock him out this time, Chris took a step toward him crunching his knuckles as the anger emanated from his eyes... As his fist was sent toward him, a small beam of light reflected into Chris's eyes from a distant building and caught his attention... Looking around swiftly, Chris tried to figure out where the light came from...

"Oh shit!" Chris stuttered as his eyes widened and a shot echoed through the alleyway. Hitting the dirt, Chris tried to pull UBCS operative down but it was too late... A single bullet with assassin's precision cut through his flesh and pierced his heart. The man fell limp to the ground as a pool of blood fixed beneath him... Hurrying to the scene after the shot, a woman from a nearby apartment building ran out and screamed at the sight before her... As Chris sullenly checked his vitals, his attention turned to the woman standing in the alleyway and tried to calm her to no avail...

"Oh my God! You... You killed him! HELP!!! He has a gun!" the woman hollered as she ran from the scene, "He killed that man! I saw him... He killed that man!"

As a crowd came into view, Chris made himself scarce and grabbed Clare who was having a cup of coffee... He did not need this attention because S.T.A.R.S. was already taking enough heat... Running from the murder scene, the brother and sister duo found their way to a clean get away... which was surprising because the police were just around the corner... Fleeing at top speed, they found themselves some time away from their destination still but they managed... Despite Chris' downplaying of the situation, there was no stopping his destiny for the final fate of S.T.A.R.S was the same as his own...

About the time that Chris and Clare managed to get away from the scene, the woman, who claimed Chris had murdered the UBCS operative, scurried back into her apartment building when the police finished her interrogation... Racing up the stairs, she gathered her things and her sniper case... Leaving her apartment, she pulled her cellphone out and called her employers.

"I missed the mark," she said with an air of disappointment, "Although, I did make it easier to find him... The authorities have his appearance and a sketch of him. It won't be long before they catch up to him."

"That doesn't matter now does it?" the man boomed on the other end, "You should've fixed the problem there! The Umbrella corporation wants all loose ends tied up!"

"I also accidentally left a dead man with the UBCS logo," she mumbled, "but I can recover the uniform easily..."

"WHAT!" the man jostled, "You left that uniform on a civilian! You pathetic excuse for a hitman! We're going to take care of you after we deal with Chris, Ada Wong!"

"..." Smiling meekly, Ada hung up her cell and discarded it as she was soon to have her revenge on Umbrella and Nanotek. Like a phoenix arising from its ashes, she had done well to hide her appearance in Raccoon City and now she was on the run from Umbrella too (even if they did not know her connection with the G-Virus outbreak)... Although, she was not too worried because with their recent political blunderings, Umbrella was swiftly gathering people who hated them... Powerful people who could do much more damage than the technological giant could even fathom. Laughing silently, Ada thought back to the protection she had through Nanotek but she did not need that now. She was sure to make both pay for their hand in everything even if it meant she would be a martyr for better business practices.


	4. The Meeting

The Meeting

Highlighted against the horizon, several black trucks streaked through the hills of a remote village in Asia. Traveling deep within the boundaries of Russia, the group had followed several mountain trails to find this dainty and secluded little town, whose minuscule population was substantially smaller than Raccoon City's. Picked up against the early morning light, an Umbrella insignia glittered with the light peaking over the dark roads. They had traveled at a great distance and cost to get to this point but it was well worth getting to this scenery. It was here that Umbrella had begun to do research on the Mother Virus back in the early 50s. The only reason why Raccoon City was chosen to house the Hive over here was because it (Raccoon City) had plenty of citizens to use to work for them and they could easily control them there with the government. Something that the higher ups had not realized would be so difficult some months after the Incident...

Whereas the Hive was totally unguarded from acts of terrorism, this site was protected from everything. From the screenings of its employees and monitoring of phone calls and chitchats, Umbrella left nothing to ponder when it came to these employees and to keep them happy they met their every request. This was just a small price to pay for the continuing of their experimentation and such for they would produce results thousands greater here than anywhere else. Of all the perks, its location was the best part of it all. Hidden deep atop a treacherous cliff side, the Umbrella labs were hidden from all prying eyes and fences were erected around the base for miles. Signs were posted across the fences in every dialect and language thinkable to keep out any intruders. From time to time curiosity would get the better and those who strayed inside of these fences were soon to find themselves experimented upon. When these people vanished, no one ever questioned what happened to them and no one ever reported them missing. The Umbrella Corporation had done well to produce fear within these people and as it was far from what any normal person would call civilization, they could keep them quiet very easily. This simple mindedness would also serve well for Umbrella because it would be used to manipulate them to do things that any normal person would think twice about, further casting shadows on this town's future.

As the village worked on its own business, the black trucks rushed across their silenced streets to a point high in the mountains. The silent roar of helicopters echoed outside of the trucks as they came to a halt. Men clad in UBCS gear and high ranking officials from Umbrella jumped free from the trucks and ran deep inside the hidden mountain base. The doors clanking shut behind them as they pushed forward, they found themselves far beneath the surface in a bunker miles beneath the dull village above. The facility that they found themselves in was much more complex than the Hive from Raccoon City and included a much more vast array of laboratories. Housing quarters for almost a hundred thousand workers and a security system that would rival that of a nuclear silo, the site, coded the Omega facility, allowed for all sorts of experiments that could not be produced anywhere else in the world. In fact, Umbrella did extensive studies of cybernetic enhancements to some of their most infamous biological weapons here. Working to finally attain a level where the mind would be fully retained in a subject, the scientists here studied day and night to finally please their higher ups. In addition to this, the Omega facility would be best known for its hand in the Nemesis Project. They had done great work to produce the Nemesis subjects that were seen in Raccoon City and likewise in other areas of the world, but all those files were deemed top secret and filed away within Umbrella's high security vaults.

The normal day would involve thousands of experiments almost occurring within milliseconds of each other. This precision working was vital for the results of every experiment and anyone off one second would have skewed results. It was easy to tell when it was around the time of running an experiment because the generators' hum would deepen. For the new crew, this would catch them off guard and lead them to think that the lights would go out but the seasoned professional would beg to differ. These senior members of the crew would have had it timed to the T and would expect it on the pre-disclosed time every day. Just another trick for the scientists to learn on the production lines that would further aid experimentation and increase the number of successful experiments.

Inside these labs, Umbrella stocked some of the most advanced technology the world had ever known and some of the most advanced biohazard containment units, specifically designed for this site. Because of the potential of biohazardous contamination, each of the labs were installed with an explosive charge planted underneath a hermetically sealable double doorway at which an incineration unit would burn everything in the room at the temperature of 3000 degrees Fahrenheit (1921.89 Kelvin), sustainable for up to forty-five minutes. This system would have given Umbrella the cutting edge over all hazards in Raccoon City but the data from that incident was far more priceless than those people were. The Incident was allowed to continue and no precautions were taken for that aim. Unlike there, the Umbrella Corporation did not want a release of the viral weapons and the alike into the environment so it was deemed necessary to install this system. Not one accident had happened here but with every hazard there needed to be a precaution so monitoring of all labs was scheduled regularly and maintenance was made daily to the systems.

By this time of the day, the roaring of crowds coming to work would deafen out the generators' powering up. Yet this date was unlike any other so the Psyonic capacitors and neurostimulators lay packed neatly in the clean rooms as work outside stopped on this weekend day. Everything lay untouched within their hermetically sealed double doors and security defenses were armed to the fullest lethality. Today, the people were given a day off from their experiments and worries as the executives from the highest levels of Umbrella met to talk about their recent problems and how they would solve them. There were a growing number of people who were gathering force against this company and they had to resolve this at any cost.

In one of the most remote places of the Omega site, the echoes of UBCS soldiers rattled through the halls as the chit chat of dress shoes tip toed down the halls to an empty room at the end of a long corridor. At which opening the door, a UBCS soldier entered the room and took in every detail of the room so as to get a layout of the diplomats and their seating order. Looking around the cozy space, he spied a large mirror in the background where their conversation would normally be taped but this was not the case today. Not too far from the one-way mirror, there rested a large mahogany table that looked worn for its age but would still carry a substantial weight. Lined up in this dimly lit room, a series of chairs resided close to the table with silver pitchers of water and glasses fixed in front of each chair. Making way for the incoming guests, the UBCS operative joined his fellow members outside of the room standing watch as the room filled with people. The meeting was soon to commence.

Walking quickly to their chairs, the representatives from Umbrella's hierarchy sat down, at which, the President of Umbrella took the lead seat in front of the hundred or so people. The sounds of hushed voices stopped the moment the door to the room slammed shut. All eyes went around the table to the various faces that now inhabited the table. The men and women sitting here ranged in age from sixteen to seventy-four years old and had various collegiate backgrounds ranging from Oxford to Bradley University. It was indeed a mixed welcome of people but because of their own problems, not one of the people had ever met like this...

Drawing a raspy breath, the President of Umbrella cleared his voice signaling the beginning of the meeting. Everyone, at once, hushed as all attention turned to the twenty-six year old head of it all. The man, still very much in his prime, would have easily touched six foot had he of been standing. His stout face looking so innocent and young but inside beat a black heart of which led him to the decisions he had made concerning every development in the history of his years there. Coughing slightly to clear his throat, he took a long winded breath and began his speech to the people seated before him.

"Welcome," the man roared with his deep unapologetic voice, "I expect there weren't any delays or problems on your trip here. I know there have been a lot of rumors surfacing about our competitors, Nanotek and Halliburton, buying out our contracts from the US government but that is far from true. I called this meeting because we have a problem. Recently the survivors from our experiments across the globe are grouping together.

"Of the groups actively challenging our Corporation, the civilians who were involved in our operations in Raccoon City and other similar Incidences must be taken care of at all costs. They have become an eyesore and if they ever gather in numbers they will prove to be a problem. Yet the biggest threat of all happens to be the best that Raccoon City's finest had to offer... These few S.T.A.R.S. members, that survived Raccoon City, were first needed to be used in our public relations brawl but now have been proven to be our greatest obstacle to overcome. With these highly resourceful operatives, they can rally the other survivors into making a massive strike against one of our other facilities. This cannot and will not go by unchecked. These annoyances are being taken care of as of right now and results will be produced! You have my word that this injustice will not last! These people WILL die!

"As for our scheduled test, ground zero of the acquired testing site has been approved by the United States' government. It's amazing how well a little power goes in this land of golden opportunities. Project Pandemic is going ahead as was stated in your memos."

"Dr. Spencer?" spoke up a petite girlie voice in the corner, "What do we tell the public about the deaths of these S.T.A.R.S. members?"

"The same thing we told them about the Raccoon City tragedy, Miss Whitney," Dr. Spencer quickly shot, "We tell them we had nothing to do with it. We are investigating the accidents to find the people responsible and when the time's right, we just tell them there are no connections between the deaths of them and in honor of the deceased, we are setting up funds in the name of the surviving relatives in the sum of one million dollars each. Plausible deniability is our cover and no one will ever be able to counter it... The American government has used it for years and look at its populace... These people are like sheep to the slaughter... They will believe anything and everything they're told."

"I'm sure that we will be able to cover ourselves," a younger man hesitated, "I'm just worried about Project Pandemic. What happens if the cover story falls through? What happens if we cannot contain the infection?"

"We've thought of that angle already," Dr. Spencer boomed, "Should our cover story fail, we will use our political ties to paint it as a terrorist attack against the Americans. With the level of fear within the US, our tactics will not fail. Fear is our best weapon here. As for if our containment protocols fail, I have done preliminary calculations and they say that we would have collateral damage of around a million people infected and a dozen more million if the winds are favorable. This is just another test like in Raccoon City. There are acceptable losses we are willing to have. Remember this, those people will not know what is going on. There will be bedlam and there will be panic. We must contain it at all costs but should anything happen we will... deny, deny, DENY! Project Pandemic will be our way into the multi-trillion dollar market... and our way... to rule the day that anyone EVER messed with Umbrella!"


	5. Chance Encounter

Chance Encounter

As the meeting progressed behind closed doors, the executives of Umbrella told themselves that their manueverings and agendas would never leave Asia. However... this would prove wrong in but a few hours into their plotting... All their preparations could never have prepared them for the rush of footsteps that entered into their conference... Every bit of the planning that Umbrella had taken to ensure that its plans were not found out, proved to be unfounded as the head of security huffed in front of them and told them of the rumor surfacing on the Internet about their dealings. According to the head of security, a leak in the Corporation had somehow transmitted the security feed of the meeting to news outlets across the world. Picking up a breaking news edition, he tossed it on the table for the President of Umbrella to see. There, posted in large black teletype, was the scheme that they were just now discussing. Adorning the front, there were pictures of the shadow conspiracy all sitting around the table discussing their darkest project. Amidst cursings and panicked phrases, Umbrella's handlings of security changed almost immediately. Spending a great deal of money to revamp security in the days to follow, they sacked the original head and nominated a new security head to lead up the top of the line system. When they were finally done dealing with the problem within, they came out about everything happening within their company.

About a week after the feed was broadcast, people from near and far congregated outside a mammoth building awaiting the press conference set up by the Umbrella Corporation... As the outraged crowd gathered outside the company headquarters, a man dressed in an expensive suit and a kindly face came out of the building. The actor, hired to play the part of the Umbrella president, told of the current state of affairs within the company. Wearing his stately smile that brought silence to the many voices, he brushed off the meeting, as if it were nothing, explaining that it was an amateur act of sabotage against their company. His benevolent face and kindly words told how that this act was supposed to destroy their public image and produce ill thoughts about their business practices. Congenially bowing before the crowd as they clung to his every word, he had them eating out of his hands and before anyone knew it, the press conference had ended... Turning and waving to everyone as he thanked them all for coming, the actor shifted a foot around and walked back into the office building behind him...

After everything had been said and done, the fact that the public had never seen the higher ups of Umbrella before helped push things into their court... Because of their timely explanation, many people bought the excuse for their beloved Corporation had never done them wrong before and had little to earn if they were to ever harm them. The few, who had personally taken on this giant and lived to tell the story, were hardpressed in coming up with something to prove their guilt. The Corporation had done well to cover up their tracks and left nothing behind to link them to anything.

Once everything had been finished, Umbrella went on with their plans and fast tracked the project so that their foes would be none-the-wiser. As the black trucks and helicopters roared away from their hidden locale, the executives, contained within, were confident that everything had been set in motion and nothing could stop them from their ultimate goal... Their vehicles streaking away from the Omega site, their thoughts froze onto the hazards before them but they knew very well that no one could stop them now. Their public image had indeed been saved but the threat of their plan still loomed overhead as everything seemed to fall into their laps... Only time would tell if anything could doom their plots... but as it stood now, the world was theirs for the taking...

It had been days since Chris and Claire Redfield had a moment's peace. Shifting around in their seats as they finished their meal, they could not shake the sense of people watching them with prying eyes. Chris sat there munching on his dinner as his other hand cradled the Colt .45 in his jacket pocket. They had to be ready for anything now especially after the failed attempt on his life some three days ago. Throwing a napkin down and a wad of ones, Chris and Claire got up and left the diner that they were in and continued on their tek forward. Eyeing his surroundings, Chris ushered Claire toward him as they picked up the pace toward their hideout. The condemned building, that they had taken shelter in, was once a secret base for the CIA in the 50s when they had been infected with the whole red scare. Times had changed since then and the threat of Communism had long since passed. Wires and equipment, forgotten in the dusts of time, laid strewn against the rotting tables. In one corner, there laid a bed with freshly laundered sheets and a couple of bar stools, taken from a dumpster and fixed. On the opposite wall, a tan couch clung to the derelict structure. Among the few comforts in the room, these were the newest items here but not the most used. Folded neatly in a drawer, a laptop slept from which Claire spent most of her time on. The hacking codes and other papers lay covering the top of it as it slumbered quietly awaiting its owner's passcode.

Avoiding the numerous traps set, the brother and sister duo found their way back into their room... The footsteps echoing in the hollowed structure, they made it into their room unscathed at the end of another day. Drifting to rest on the bed, Claire let out a sigh as Chris passed her her laptop. The worries mounted on their faces was not the only thing on their minds as the computer flickered to life. Their minds were set on figuring out what they were to do now that Umbrella was on good standing with the world again. They feared what this would do to the world once they had accomplished their desires. Resting her laptop on the bed and laying down with her feet flailing in the air, Claire started to type on her PC as she tried to infiltrate the Umbrella mainframes. Using her usual hacking patterns that exploited the new weaknesses in the system, Claire sat typing up a storm as her screen flashed amongst screens. Almost immediately, the screen cut to black leaving a bewildered Claire on the edge of the bed... Minutes pass as the screen cut to a scene of a beast in cryostasis. Scientists cluttered around it as a sunglassed gentleman in black picked up the unit effortlessly. Watching the scene, Claire's eyes shrunk in horror at her realization that this was once a dear friend of hers. Her hands shaking as the tears streamed down her face, Chris' face sullied and came to rest next to Claire to see her boggle on the screen.

"Are you going to be ok Claire?" Chris hugged her tight.

"This can't be..." Claire sobbed watching the video pass, "This guy is dead... He should be dead..."

"A friend of yours?" Chris asked concerned as his eyes froze on a familiar face, "Wesker! What the hell is going on? Tell me Claire!"

"I went looking for you in Europe and wound up in an Umbrella prison camp..." Claire trailed off in the midst of incoherent jibber jabber, "I escaped and found myself in Antarctica with a friend named, Steve Burnside. They used this special virus on him and he saved me... but he died saving me..."

"Wesker's involved with this.. isn't he?" Chris' face deepened with resolve, "What did he do?"

"Wesker took his body for the virus contained in it," Claire sobbed into the blanket, "He saved me and I couldn't stop Wesker... I could do nothing as he got away with Steve... All I could do is watch..." Claire trailed away in pure tears as the screen continued to show the experiments done on him... Everything went blank as the screen froze... Claire looked up to the screen. Slowly as if they were being typed with one finger, the words... "I am still alive..." frozen on screen... as horror marred across Claire's face... The words sunk into every fiber of her being as she sat there transfixed on the words, tracing them in her mind and speaking them wordlessly... Somehow... she had to save him...


End file.
